Obama adjusts his crown of laurels made of arugala as he makes is way down Pennsylvania Ave astride a palanquin carried by wounded veterans whove been granted the dubious honor.

As he is carried him blithly past Constitution Avenue, he spares not a single glance down his upturned noes to the throngs of unemployed job creators on either side of the parade imploring him to relent.

Ascending the steps to the dais, the President smiles at his supporters whose excitment and enthusiasm finds physical outlet in hand wringing and wide grins.

As Obama places his hand on a Mulsim Bible written in Kenyan, he hollowly echoes the oath of office and watches as a single tear falls down the cheek of Chief Justice John Roberts.

The Presidents gaze is then directed westward; beyond the crowds on the National Mall, gliding over the reflecting pool and around the National Monument, over Appalachia and the Louisana Purchase, flying past the farms of the Great Plains, soaring over the majestic beauty of the Rockies, to the western coast of the nation. There his gaze settles, and the country's with it, as the sun sets on America.

RandomExcess:It is immoral to use the force of law to compel people into the private market.

Yup, which is why the service should be provided directly by the government but since that wasn't possible in your whack-a-doodle political climate, this is the next best thing. What is totally immoral and beyond the pale is to leave the health of your citizens completely in the hands of an unregulated private market.

Ya know, I dun lived up thar in socialist-health-care Canuckistan fer a spell with thu chicken business.Everyone I dun ran-over with thu Eldorado gots picked up & put back tugetha in a hospital - no matter what their station in life or ethnic proclivitah!It was dang horrible tu see, I tell ya!

• obama did a piss-poor job of explaining the benefits of obamacare• the "mainstream media" didn't do its job at all, allowing disinformation from the right to permeate the debate• the republicans were extremely aggressive and disciplined in their disinformation campaign• most americans are too lazy to find shiat out on their own

RandomExcess:It is immoral to use the force of law to compel people into the private market.

So simple.

Hey libs, how's about some nice carrots instead of bigger/more sticks? Maybe, all health-care expenses for everyone are tax-free. How about, all contributions to health-charities that help people pay for medical expenses are 2X tax-free? How about tax breaks for insurance companies that provide low-cost coverage, and cover preexisting conditions, kids, then unemployed.

How about incentives to doctors and clinics that treat people on a cash-basis, eliminating the need for insurance common emergencies and ailments?

Seriously, why do we need health insurance for cuts and scrapes, common illnesses and the occasional broken bone? These should be easy and cheap to fix. Keep the insurance for the big stuff.

Make it competitive to do the "right thing" and maybe you won't need a stick.

RandomExcess:It is immoral to use the force of law to compel people into the private market.

Those people are already in the market and everybody else's premiums include a sum for "uninsured people who roll up at the ER with serious / chronic conditions that are expensive to treat". The mandate is an attempt to get those folks to cover some of their own healthcare costs.

This is not like mandating somebody buy a car because there is not a massive problem in the car dealership industry of millions of people turning up in emergency need of a car they can't pay for that the dealer has to provide to them with no way to recover the costs other than to jack up the ticket price for everybody else.

I'm not keen on the Heritage Foundation invented Individual Mandate that the GOP spent almost 20 years proposing as their model of healthcare reform, but it's a tiny tiny step in the right direction.

/Kinda wish it had been struck down so we could make a run at Single Payer.

kronicfeld:RandomExcess: It is immoral to use the force of law to compel people into the private market.

Just like providing tax cuts for mortgage interest forces people to buy homes. And dependency exemptions force people to have children.

In fairness you don't pay a higher tax for refusing to get a house. That is the default. If you buy one, you may get tax breaks.

Here, your refusal to buy insurance requires you to pay more taxes. This the stick, not the carrot side of taxes being used for behavior modification.

But my objections are simple: mandate, failure of a public options, taxes tha will raise the cost of healthcare (see medical device tax increase), and the extra BS in the bill. But I like certain aspects of it

And like all government matters, I remain skeptical that it will work as advertised.

Also, Obama was naive saying it wasn't a tax. He will find himself defending that for the remainder of this year.

FlashHarry:• obama did a piss-poor job of explaining the benefits of obamacare• the "mainstream media" didn't do its job at all, allowing disinformation from the right to permeate the debate• the republicans were extremely aggressive and disciplined in their disinformation campaign• most americans are too lazy to find shiat out on their own

It was his blackcent.The MSM did their job as their employers described.If there is one thing the GOP excels at, it's believing their wrongs are rights.This one is fine and true as you stated.

FlashHarry:• obama did a piss-poor job of explaining the benefits of obamacare• the "mainstream media" didn't do its job at all, allowing disinformation from the right to permeate the debate• the republicans were extremely aggressive and disciplined in their disinformation campaign• most americans are too lazy to find shiat out on their own

• Obama did explain it.

• The so-called 'Liberal media' ignored everything he said and made up their own nonsense to try and turn the public against it. Which worked.

How is the money "stolen" if you were going to spend it on health care anyway? Is it because it's a "tax," one that ensures cancer patients don't get their treatment denied because they had acne as teenagers or once took Tylenol for a headache?

Is it because you'd rather pay more to a private company that has the ability to deny coverage that your doctor thinks is necessary because the doctor's signature is illegible?

....

Or is it just that you hate the "Obama" part of "Obamacare," as depicted in the comic alywa posted?

Liberals believe that access to healthcare is a right and should be provided to any human that is suffering (socialized healthcare). Conservatives believe that healthcare is a business and only those with wealth should be provided it (status quo).

It's not that farking hard to figure out. There are a lot of things in the bill that could be amended, but the GOP's platform of throwing the whole thing out has very little to do with the actual bill. They want it thrown out for so their team can get a win and their funders can get some more pork barrel spending.

Invincible:RandomExcess: It is immoral to use the force of law to compel people into the private market.

Yup, which is why the service should be provided directly by the government but since that wasn't possible in your whack-a-doodle political climate, this is the next best thing. What is totally immoral and beyond the pale is to leave the health of your citizens completely in the hands of an unregulated private market.

Statists piss their pants at anarchy, afraid that mob armies with near unlimited power will take their stuff. And fully support the biggest baddest armed mob just because it takes this for them. farking hypocrites then complain too much is being spent on arming their mob. And it is.

It's a tax. It was always a tax. George Stephanopolis was absolutely correct when he told President Obama it was a tax. President Obama knows the Constitution well enough to know it could only be constitutional if it was a tax. The Democrats passed a tax on the middle class during a recession. That was their right because they controlled the House, Senate and Executive. Now the fact that it was and is a tax has truthfully been exposed. I agree with Chief Justice Roberts that increasing taxes is Constitutional. And lying about increasing taxes, just like lying about receiving a combat medal is not criminal.